Funky Drummer
"Funky Drummer" is a funk song recorded by James Brown and his band. The recording's drum break, performed by Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled rhythmic breaks in hip hop and popular music.
The recording
"Funky Drummer" was recorded on November 20, 1969 in Cincinnati, Ohio and originally released by King Records as a two-part 45 rpm single in March 1970. Despite rising to #20 on the R&B chart and #51 on the pop chart, it did not receive an album release until the 1986 compilation In the Jungle Groove.
The piece takes the form of an extended vamp, with individual instruments (mostly the tenor saxophones and organ) improvising brief licks on top. Brown's ad-libbed vocals on "Funky Drummer" are sporadic and declamatory, and are mostly concerned with encouraging the other band members.
As in the full-length version of "Cold Sweat" he announces the upcoming drum break, which comes late in the recording, with a request to "give the drummer some." He tells Stubblefield "You don't have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got... Don't turn it loose, 'cause it's a mother." Stubblefield's eight-bar unaccompanied "solo", a version of the riff he plays through most of the piece, is the result of Brown's directions; this break beat is one of the most sampled recordings in music.
SL2
SL2 may refer to:
SL2 (group)
SL2 are an English breakbeat hardcore group active in the early 1990s from London, England. They also recorded, remixed or produced under the names Slipmatt & Lime and T.H.C.
Background
"Starting out as a group of three, SL2 was originally a coming together of DJ's Matt "Slipmatt" Nelson, John "Lime" Fernandez and rap vocalist Jason "Jay-J" James. The SL2 name came from the founders initials - Slipmatt (S) and Lime (L), and as they were a duo - hence "SL2".
Underground
As youngsters in 80s Britain, they were very much into the hip hop scene before having their heads turned by the growing rave scene.
Their big break came in 1989 through Slipmatt's older brother, who was running the now legendary party-promoting organisation Raindance, they became the enterprise's resident DJs, playing parties all over the United Kingdom.
A year into touring with Raindance, SL2 released their debut single, "Do That Dance," through B-Ware Records which sold well to fans of the rave scene. Allegedly, the practices of the record label prevented the band from ever seeing any money. Subsequently, SL2 set up their own Awesome Records label, through which they first released another single, "DJ's Take Control". The record sold 3500 copies, attracting the attention of new dance label XL Recordings.
Silver Line (MBTA)
The Silver Line is the bus rapid transit (BRT) system of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It currently operates four routes in two sections that were built in separate phases.
The first section has two routes from Dudley Square in Roxbury, mostly via Washington Street, to Boston's Downtown Crossing (SL5) and South Station (SL4), using articulated buses operating in reserved lanes. The second section runs from South Station Under to South Boston (SL2) and to Logan Airport in East Boston (SL1). It runs dual-mode buses, partly in a dedicated bus tunnel and partly on shared roadway, including surface streets, the Ted Williams Tunnel, and airport roads. Riders can transfer between the sections and to other lines at South Station; transfers there between SL1, SL2, and the Red Line—but not SL4—are within fare control. At South Station, however, a transfer from SL1, SL2, and the Red Line to SL4 (and vice versa) can be made by walking alongside streets.
Speed and schedule performance have disappointed some transit advocates and the Silver Line routes fall far short of the minimum BRT Standard promulgated by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). Some sections have an exclusive right-of-way, but other sections are bogged down by street running in congested mixed traffic. As of September 2014, a contract has been awarded for the first phase of an extension to Chelsea, Massachusetts, largely in reserved right-of-way; other extensions of the Silver Line are being studied as well.
Podcasts:
